Timber Tales - Connecticut State Sawmill

TEMJ 20242 - Portland Sawmill, Sustainable Renewable Resources, CT DEEP, Camp Buck, State Park Infrastructure, Wood products, State forests, Net-Zero Energy, Passsive Solar, Trombe Wall, Pozzolans

Greetings Fellow Earthmonks,

This entry of the Earthmonk journal will be a real treat for my Connecticut based subscribers.  If you live or have lived or visited CT, you may have asked yourself, “Where do all the State Park shields come from?”. You know, all those brown state park signs, that hang from a brown signpost on a brown crossarm. If you have visited a CT State Park, you know what I’m talking about.  The stained brown signage, in the shape of a shield, engraved with the image of the charter oak tree and painted with yellow lettering. The sign which lets you know that you have arrived at the destination that you just drove over hour to get to. The answer, they are all made at the Portland Sawmill.

Planks for state park picnic tables and parking barriers are ‘stickered’ and drying in the covered open air.

The Portland Sawmill, is located within the Portland Complex in Portland, CT. It is part of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. It is a fully functional and operating state run sawmill.

I had a chance to visit the sawmill and take a tour of the sawmill given by the head sawyer Jim Moore. In addition, I also spoke with two of the sawmill operators and one of the state foresters who were also at the facility that day.